We're Baby Back in the Game!

Well what a week... But as the title states, We're Back (insert creepy poltergeist voice). Let's start with the main event shall we? BBQ weekend! Last weekend was warm and sunny, unlike the current atmospheric offering. Jon requested ribs. I had experimented with baby back ribs last fall, posted here. I have my standard Giada BBQ sauce - delish. I know it works, so I use it as a control. This time however, I followed Alton's lead for the most part. I love that man. Science and cooking, I'm in heaven. Anyways, during FN's BBQ week he supplied this recipe, it sounded too crazy not to try. Check it out. Plus, you have drinks planned as well!


Step one, Dry rub. I used my Mom's dry rub I snatched from the fridge at home. Not sure what's in it! It was salty and zingy. I added a big hunk (very technical) of brown sugar to the rub. I let it mingle over night- about 11 hrs. The dry rub turns into a delightful marinade overnight. Then step two pictured above, braise in oven 2 hours with Alton's special (ridiculous) concoction. Holy moley. I got up, dinked around and then started this in the oven. I began my weekend chores, and by the time I was done cleaning the apt smelled FANTASTIC. Seriously, I tasted these out of the oven and they were fab. Alton, I believe in you, and your crazy ideas.

There you go. Final product, complete with classy GF (ie paper) plates at Jon's apt. I have a mini Weber that I store there for grilling expeditions. Jon was in charge of grilling. We also did chicken to feed the masses. I made Alton's BBQ sauce for the ribs, and Giada's sauce for the chicken. Both got two thumbs up. Alas, I admit I played with Alton's sauce a bit, adding more citrus and some balsamic vinegar. A girl's got to add her flair right? Giada's on the other hand, is perfection as is.

MMMM Cornbread. Recipe here. Simple, plain cornbread. I really wanted to zest it up, maybe add some Cheddar and jalapenos. I was outvoted. They were right. I ate these little babies in the am this week with butter and honey :)


The tasters! Justin and Julia enjoyed the ribs. I have to say, neither were big rib fans, but they seemed to like what they got! It's so fun to cook for friends. Sigh, big smile:) I also TOTALLY made the asparagus salad from here. It was wonderful, but somehow it didn't get pictured. I used broccoli not broccolini. I didn't think my clientele would notice :) I did however, almost slice my finger off chopping radishes. I'll make it again, and take a picture. It's worth it, hemoglobin decrease and all.


The grill master, with corn on the cob. I roasted the corn in the oven, husk and all while the cornbread cooked. Could not get easier than that. Notice Jesus in the upper right corner. Yep. No joke.

And finally, the big bummer. I sat down this week to type up a delightfully worthwhile (cough) assignment for my primary care rotation. I thought, well gosh, snacking on olives would make this task way better. Get up, get olives, return to cute black macbook. Sit down, IMMEDIATELY spill entire container of olive juice smack dab on the esc key. Scream, and cute black macbook shuts down. Think, shoot this is not good. Grab Kleenex. Think, are you kidding? Run to closet and grab tons of towels. Attempt to 1) keep the profanity to a minimum 2) dry and tip the computer over at the same time. Well, despite all my efforts cute black macbook died. Enter replacement white macbook. WAY too much money later. Oh well. Live and learn right?

NO LIQUIDS NEAR YOUR COMPUTER!!!!! No matter how graceful you wish to believe you are!